When the Canadian Soccer Association announced, a couple of weeks back, that Toronto FC director of team and player personnel Earl Cochrane had been appointed to the CSA board, the comments section of my story sprouted doom, gloom and angst.
Anonymous trolling, for the most part, but the ensuing discussion did point out a couple of popular misconceptions about what the CSA board is, and how it will actually operate going forward in its post-reform state.
And since, apparently, this beat is mine and mine alone, here’s what you may not know:
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1) Cochrane’s a good guy. Firm, serious, good sense of humour, honest worker, on to himself, secretive when he needs to be, always as open and honest as his job allows (rare and refreshing within the psychoswamp that is Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment).
2) It’s essentially an advisory role. Cochrane is one voice in fourteen on the CSA board, and that board now exists only to set policy, with implementation largely stripped away and given to general secretary Peter Montopoli and his ever-improving support staff.
3) Pre-reform, there was a pro teams representative. The position rotates among Canada’s pro clubs, and it was Toronto FC’s turn. In the new structure, Cochrane will be one voice in 14, a significant jump in importance. That role, in the past, would have gone to a provincial soccer association president, who had no need or requirement to even be competent in the national needs of the sport in Canada.
In short, Cochrane is far better than competent, and has not just been handed the ultimate reins of power. He’s a good soccer man, and the Canadian game will be better for his input.
And as long as we’re in the neighbourhood:
The CSA Nominations Committee made a clever, canny move, I feel, when it tapped sitting director Steven Reed to fill the final year of newly elected president Victor Montagliani’s vice-presidential term.
Reed was one of three sitting CSA directors serving a final year while occupying what will become an appointed board seat a year from now. By bumping him up to VP, the CSA will now have four of its six appointed directors in 2012, instead of just three. The crucial final step of reform is now two-thirds complete, instead of being forced to stop half way. The new appointment should be announced shortly.
And on the who-does-what front …
Here’s some CSA committee appointments, for governance wonks wot jist cain’t git enuf:
- Steven Reed, Audit and Finance
- Don Story, Governance
- Ken MacLean, Risk Management
- Charlie Cuzzetto, International Relations
- Tony Fonseca, Technical
- Tony Camacho, Referees
- Dr. Andrew Pipe, Sport Medicine
- Joe Guest, Professional Soccer
- Judi Kelloway, Competitions
- Janine Helland, Women’s Soccer
Onward!